


Anyone Else (But You)

by galacticambitions



Category: Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Blood and Injury, But youre getting it anyway xoxo enjoy my rarepair, Fluff, Gijinka, Hair Brushing, Human-ish Versions of Characters, Kissing, Literally no one on earth asked for this, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, No beta we die like my dignity, Sick Character, Slow Burn, This takes place during Return to Dreamland btw, physical affection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29303382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galacticambitions/pseuds/galacticambitions
Summary: Five times Magolor eased Bandana Dee's pain, and one time he hurt him irreparably.
Relationships: Bandana Waddle Dee/Magolor (Kirby)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	1. Bandaged

“Busy?”

Bandana Dee threw one last fist against the punching bag. He let out an exhausted exhale, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand before turning to face his visitor. He wasn’t too startled by the voice; He’d heard the door open a moment earlier, alerting him that someone had joined him in the training room. 

Although, this particular Halcandran didn’t look as if he was about to be joining a session of physical training any time soon.

“Not too busy for you, what’s up?” Bandana Dee smiled politely and picked a nearby towel off of its rack. He slung it around his shoulders with experienced precision. His warm voice echoed faintly in the vast room.

Magolor looked to be a little flustered by something he’d said, but Bandana Dee didn’t particularly pick up on whatever it was. 

“Just checking in on my little helpers,” He shook off his previous emotions and smiled— or at least he appeared to be smiling, if his eyes were any indicator. His mouth was covered as usual. “You seem to be the most productive of the group, today,” Magolor yawned. “It’s been a rest day for most of us.” Contrasting the fact he was in his usual, professional-like pose of holding his hands clasped in front of him, Magolor shifted his weight from one leg to the other, as if he were too tired to stand still without succumbing to his exhaustion.

“Ah, man, you’re gonna make me catch your yawn. You look tired,” Bandana Dee observed. He crossed his arms idly and leaned against the counter behind him, wearing a playful grin.

Magolor ran a hand through the fur on the side of his head, making sure that his hood remained up. “Yeah. Just woke up from a nap, actually.”

Bandana Dee nodded understandingly and held the towel around his neck with both hands as if he were about to remove it. “Must not have been a very good one if you’re still that sleepy. Well, don’t let me keep you up. If you’re tired, you should go finish resting.” He smiled happily toward Magolor. “You must really tire yourself out with how much you work on the ship.”

Magolor felt a genuine smile appear on his face. He wasn’t used to hearing such things. “Ah, thank you,” He clasped his hands together and put them to the side of his face as if he were swooning. “Oh!” Magolor’s ears suddenly perked up. “I almost forgot.” Magolor slid a hand into his robe, pulling out and revealing the object he’d been carrying. “Here, brought this for you. Thought you might be—”

Bandana Dee unintentionally interrupted Magolor with an excited gasp as he recognized it to be his favorite drink, enthusiastically taking the offered object and popping the tab on the top of the can open. 

Magolor laughed softly as he watched his guest down about half of the tall can’s contents in the blink of an eye. 

His joviality didn’t last long, however, as the motion brought Bandana Dee’s hands to his attention. The white fabric he had wrapped around his hands was blemished by dark red areas around where Dee’s knuckles were. He furrowed his brows in concern. 

Momentarily, he wondered why he even cared about his acquaintance being a little scraped up. He justified it by reminding himself that this guy was supposed to be assisting him in the repair of his ship, and couldn’t do it properly if he got injured. And yes, bloody knuckles were definitely a mission-dangering injury, of course they were.

Bandana Dee apparently noticed his expression, as he lowered the can and tilted his head a little. “You okay?”

Magolor was caught off-guard by Bandana Dee’s ability to read him. 

“I should be the one asking you that,” Magolor huffed, holding his hands out to his guest in an abrupt, almost diva-like manner. 

Bandana Dee, confused as to what Magolor wanted him to do, put the can back in Magolor’s hands. 

Magolor stared at him blankly.

He shook his head and put the can down on a nearby counter before clearing his throat to speak again. “Your hands…?”

“Oh,” Bandana Dee’s freckled face reddened slightly in embarrassment for reading the gesture wrong, but he laughed a little at his own mistake regardless. Inwardly, he hoped he didn’t make himself look like an airhead. He was incredibly smart, damn it! It wasn’t his fault he was a little nervous around this mysterious, charismatic traveler. Hesitantly, he held his hands out. 

Magolor noticed they were subtly shaking. He must have worked himself too tired. 

Magolor took hold of them carefully, turning them and his head to allow him better examination of his fists. He squinted his eyes at the red blotches that painted the bandages like a kid’s messy finger-painting. Youch. Magolor gifted him an unimpressed look. “There’s no way you didn’t notice this.”

Bandana Dee forced a sheepish laugh. “I did, but it didn’t look too serious to me. It’s not a huge deal.” He pulled his hands back in and rubbed the knuckles of one hand with his other. Magolor believed him for a moment until he saw him faintly wince.

“Sure, hot shot,” Magolor huffed out an irritated puff of air. He lowered himself down to the ground, legs crossed. “How’re you supposed to even utilize your training in a real fight if you’re injured? Sit down.”

Although Magolor kept his cheery attitude and vocal deposition, his words were demanding more than they were a friendly suggestion. Bandana Dee was more than used to taking orders, so he sat down, unintentionally mimicking Magolor’s cross-legged pose. 

Magolor slowly removed the hand wraps, which took way longer than he’d expected. Bandana Dee wrapped them up in such an intricate way— probably to optimize support— but Nova, it was tedious to unravel. Truthfully, he didn’t mind the extra time spent. He took careful time as he lifted the ones on his knuckles to try and avoid discomforting the guy. His hands appeared delicate and bony, Magolor noted, similar to those of an artist or a pianist. 

Bandana Dee was neither of those things, and not at all delicate. He was a fighter, although he clearly wasn’t built to be one. Magolor respected that about him. 

“Is it that bad?” Dee asked, pouting his lips a bit.

“Huh?” 

“You were staring.”

Now it was Magolor’s turn to feel embarrassed. “Sorry,” He laughed awkwardly. “Just thinking.”

After examining the damage, Magolor stood, assisting the other into a standing position with a steady grip on his wrists. He kept hold of one of Bandana Dee’s hands to lead him out of the training room and down the hallway. 

“Where are we going?” Bandana Dee stammered. 

“Medical bay,” Magolor answered. “I only need some disinfectant and proper medical bandages.” He slowed his walk so that they could walk side by side. Bandana Dee’s hand was released as well and it wasn’t mentioned by either of the two. Magolor listened to the clicks and clacks both of their boots made as they walked down the brightly lit hallway.

Magolor piped back up after a minute of walking. “As you said, it isn’t bad, per say, but you still should be more careful, you know.”

“Yeah.”

They sat in the medical bay for a few minutes, silent as Magolor treated and bandaged his mild wounds. 

“Thank you,” Bandana Dee spoke up, draining the somewhat awkward silence the room ended up submerged in. “For helping out, I mean. Especially for the apple juice!” His laugh was bubbly and warm, like the gentle crackle of a small fire. It reminded him of home. 

For a moment, Magolor just glanced up at him and his hidden smile grew. “Of course! It’s the least I can do for a guest of the Lor.” He patted the back of Bandana Dee’s treated hands. “Not to mention how helpful you’ve been to me.” 

“Don’t mention it.” He rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. “It’s what us heroes do!”

Magolor stifled a snort at the cheesy ‘hero’ comment and refused to let himself reply snarkily. 

“Well,” Magolor stood and brushed his cloak down. “You should go get some rest, now. No need to train all the time, right?”

Bandana Dee nodded and stood after him. “Right.”


	2. Care

“Magolor!” A young voice and quick footsteps ran through the halls of the Lor Starcutter, the volume increasing as it reached the main hub of the ship, where Magolor had his hands rested on the dashboard and was studying the screen. He looked startled by the noise, and quickly clicked off the image displayed and spun around. All Kirby saw of the image was a blur of gold.

“Magolor?” He repeated, tilting his head.

“Yes, Kirby?” Magolor, recovering quickly from the stark transition between his previous task and his current one, replied cheerfully, his fingertips pressed together politely in a steeple in front of his chest. His stance made him look comparable to some sort of charismatic merchant.

“Do you have any extra blankets? And— uh… maybe some soup? Soup would be good, I think! I don’t really get sick often, so…” The young hero spoke quickly.

“Slow down, Kirby,” Magolor sighed. “You need blankets and… soup?”

“Yuh-huh!” Kirby nodded. “Bandana Dee got sick while we were on a pretty long mission at White Wafers. I think it’s just a cold, but poor Dee is miserable.” His eyebrows creased in worry.

“That’s... no good,” Magolor replied, frowning. One down, only three to serve on missions. He’d just have to assist him in getting well soon. Coming up with some selfish excuse made him feel less confused as to why he even cared if the guy was alright or not. It was a little frightening for him. He couldn’t afford to get attached to any of these people. “How about we bring him the blankets and soup together? I’m sure he’d appreciate the company, yes?”

Kirby’s eyes practically sparkled in happiness. “Yeah!” He reached to hug Magolor, but was stopped as Magolor held him back gently. If Kirby was phased by it, he didn’t let it show.

—

The kitchen wasn’t too far away, and he decided just to lend him a couple of his own extra blankets, so it didn’t take too long to find what they were looking to bring.

When they arrived at one of the many guest rooms, particularly the one Bandana Dee chose to stay in, Kirby opened the door with a flourish— “Ta-da! Look what I brought!” 

Bandana Dee lifted his head from where he had it pinned between two large pillows. His hair looked like it desperately needed brushing and he was missing his namesake headwear. “Huh?” He seemed dazed, and his voice made it clear his nose was a little stuffy. The lighting of the room was dimmed extra low.

“I brought blankets, some soup, and— a friend!” Kirby widened the door to allow Magolor room to fully step inside between the words ‘and’ and ‘a’. 

“Ah,” Bandana Dee simply said, sitting up a little to receive the blankets. “Thanks, Kirby.” He gave him a weak, lopsided smile. As soon as the blankets hit the bed, he pulled them up close and snuggled into them like it was the first insulation he’d had in years. He was trembling as if he were in the middle of a blizzard.

Kirby set the warm soup on the bedside table for when Bandana Dee wanted it. “You’re welcome, Dee!” He ruffled his friend’s orange hair, making it messier than it already was. Bandana Dee didn’t mind at all, though. He just kindheartedly laughed along with his friend. 

The sight made Magolor feel strange. He felt an emptiness, deep in his stomach. Loneliness? Maybe. He’d never had a friendship like this— like the whole heroic quartet of Dreamland citizens had. He stepped forward.

“Those are my personal blankets, by the way, so make sure to avoid them if you throw up or anything,” Magolor said, his borderline rude words juxtapozed by his upbeat tone. Bandana Dee began to laugh warmly again. Magolor wasn’t sure what was so funny. He wasn’t joking. Hearing his laugh made him smile a little, though.

“Sure thing.” 

Magolor maintained eye contact with him for a couple, long seconds. “I’ll keep him company for a bit, Kirby. You can run off and do whatever you do for fun for a while,” Magolor said on a whim. Kirby nodded happily and gave Bandana Dee a quick hug. 

“You got it! Feel better soon, Dee.”

He paused before fully exiting, peeking his head back through the door. “Thanks for helping out, Magolor,” He whispered, probably in an attempt to keep the comment exclusively between the two of them.

Once the door was shut behind him, Magolor spoke back up. “He’s sweet.”

“Yeah, very,” Bandana Dee replied. “He’s the light of Dreamland.” He rested his weary head back down into his pillows, wearing a content smile as he thought about his dear friend.

“He sure is quite the star, isn’t he?” Magolor mused, smiling back. His ears twitched under his hood. “I’ve heard a bit about him.”

“Oh yeah? That’s... impressive. Where’d you hear of him?”

“From an old friend. He knew Kirby for a little bit.” Magolor bit his tongue on the fact his old friend happened to have tricked Kirby into assisting his attempt to acquire immense power, and was promptly beaten. He decided changing the topic would be a smart course of action. “Kirby seems rather young.”

“He is,” Bandana Dee nodded, coughing into his elbow a few times. “Don’t underestimate him because of it, though.”

“I don’t plan on it.”

Magolor sat at the end of Bandana Dee’s bed. He pulled a can from his cloak. “I brought this as well, by the way, since you seemed to enjoy it last time I brought it for you,” He smiled and tilted his head in a friendly manner, his ears flopping to the side a little. 

“Sweet!” Bandana Dee grinned and reached out with shaky hands to take it. Magolor laughed lightly as he popped the top open for him before handing it over. “You sure do love apple juice, huh?”

“Mhm—” He hummed between sips. “It’s my favorite. What about you?” He sniffled.

“Me?”

“Yeah, do you have a certain food or drink you really love?”

Magolor paused to think. He came up blank. “No, not particularly.”

Bandana Dee raised his eyebrows in exaggerated surprise. “I’ll have to help you find a favorite sometime, then.”

Something about the implication of continuing to spend time together in the future made his chest tighten. He shook the feeling off. Maybe his sickness was contagious…?

“Might be quite the task!” Magolor held his hand up to the fabric covering his mouth as he laughed. 

Bandana Dee’s smile grew. “Maybe so, but I’m not one to back down from a challenge.”

“Maybe tackle the challenge of feeling better, first,” He raised an eyebrow.

Bandana Dee sighed and sunk into the pillow a little more. He appeared legitimately dejected remembering how awful he was feeling. Magolor frowned.

“I hate getting sick.”

Magolor gave him his attention, politely nodding to encourage him to continue, or to elaborate.

“It’s always me, too. Kirby and Meta Knight’s race get sick very rarely. The King gets sick, but it never holds him back unless he’s feeling particularly lazy or wanting people to fret over him for attention.” He smiled fondly when speaking of his king. He always felt a tinge of pride when thinking about him. His smile quickly dropped as he went back to the topic, though. “I can’t stand it.”

Magolor decided he hated seeing Bandana Dee frown.

“You should probably sleep for a while,” Magolor said, changing the subject yet again to revive his guest’s spirits. 

Bandana Dee seemed to be more than happy with the change of topic. “I would, but I’ve been trying to sleep for the past couple hours— To no avail, mind you. My head feels too... busy.”

“Ah. I’ve been there, trust me. I’d consider myself somewhat of an insomniac, or at least a ‘workaholic.’” Magolor did ‘air quotes’ with his hands as he said that last word.

“That’s one thing we have in common, at least.”

The two sat quietly for a few minutes, the only noise being the ambient hum of the Lor Starcutter. 

“Want me to try something my mother used to do to get me to sleep?”

Bandana Dee raised an eyebrow at him for a moment. “Sure, why not.” He yawned, not caring about hiding how exhausted he was anymore. 

Magolor excused himself before leaving the room to fetch something. Bandana Dee finished off his apple juice as he waited for his return. When he eventually did come back, he held an object in hand. He squinted his tired, blurry eyes.

“Hairbrush?”

“Mhm,” Magolor replied, kicking his boots off and climbing up into the bed beside Bandana Dee, who sat up a little in surprise, his cheeks reddening ever so slightly. “Here,” He patted his lap for Bandana Dee to rest his head on. 

He hesitantly did what he was told, a little worried he’d embarrass himself by misreading what Magolor wanted him to do, similar to what he did with the apple juice can a few days ago. 

He’d known Magolor for about three weeks by now, and not one of those days did he expect he’d ever be staring up at him from his lap.

He decided to consider the whole thing a fever dream.

His apprehension melted away as Magolor smiled with his eyes and patted him on the cheek. “I’m gonna brush your hair for a bit. Just close your eyes and try to sleep,” He said. “It works, trust me.”

“Alright, I’ll take your word for it.” He smiled. 

Magolor felt that weird lonely feeling in his stomach again.

He brushed his sunset-colored bangs from his face, slowly bringing the brush from his roots to the end of his hair with a similar repetitivity to the continuous lapping of ocean waves. The hair that had become unruly quickly was brushed out, and Magolor discarded the brush in favor of just carding through his hair with his hands. 

Quicker than he expected, Bandana Dee began to lightly snore. Magolor almost didn’t notice how his smile grew at the sight. He ran a thumb across Dee’s freckled cheeks. The hero looked a lot less burdened when asleep.

Magolor practically prayed to Nova that Bandana Dee would get well soon. 

...

He didn’t know why he cared.

He lowered his cloak’s collar to press a kiss to Bandana Dee’s forehead.


	3. Weakness

Magolor practically jumped out of his skin as the door to the Lor Starcutter opened abruptly right as he was walking by. He was met with a death glare from Meta Knight, who was supporting the much taller and heavier King Dedede as he walked. Behind him was Kirby, who looked a little less concerned than Meta Knight. 

  
  


Magolor quickly moved out of their way. 

  
  


“Is— Is everything alright?”

  
  


“Yeah,” Kirby nodded. “King Dedede just got knocked out and is a little hurt. He’ll be okay!” 

  
  


Dedede groaned in annoyance. “Emphasis on the ‘a little hurt’ there, Kirby. I’m fine! I can walk— by— my— self!” He attempted to pull away from Meta Knight’s iron hold between each word. 

  
  


Meta Knight shook his head. “No, you cannot.”

  
  


Magolor watched the two walk further down the hallway, their back and forth argument becoming a distant murmur muffled by the walls of the ship.

  
  


He almost just went back to his work, but seeing the frown on Kirby’s face gave him reason enough to stay. “What exactly happened?”

  
  


“I’m not sure, I didn’t see. It isn’t bad, though. He’ll heal quickly.”

  
  


“What do you look so concerned about, then?”

  
  


Kirby sighed. “Bandana Dee ran off. I’m not sure where he went. I’m just worried about him. He looked pretty upset.”

  
  


“Oh?”

  
  


_ Don’t get involved. Go back to work. Distract yourself with something. Do not get involved. It doesn’t matter, you do not care a single bit. _

  
  


“Where do you think he went?”

  
  


“Couldn’t be far.”

  
  


_ Don’t you dare. _

  
  


“You stay here, Kirby. Treat yourself to some lunch from the kitchen if you want,” He said. “I’ll go look for him.”

  
  


_ You’re gonna regret it. _

  
  
  


—

  
  


It had been a good few days since he stepped foot off the Lor. The quartet of heroes hadn’t yet found enough pieces of the ship for it to regain flight, but the area the Lor had crashed into had a nice view, so it wasn’t all bad.

  
  


It looked especially nice during cloudless nightfall, when the moon and stars reflected off the nearby lake of water like a pristine mirror. Dreamland had peculiar geography as well— he wondered what could have caused the cylinder-like hills the waterfalls flowed through. 

  
  


But, that wasn’t important right now. 

  
  


He had a mission.

  
  


Where Bandana Dee could’ve gone was a mystery to him, though. He had no clue where to even start. The lack of daylight was rather unfortunate as well. 

  
  


“What are you looking for?” An unusually deadpan voice called from above, scaring the daylights out of Magolor. He stumbled forward a few steps and spun around to face the voice.

  
  


He looked up to find where it had come from, only to see Bandana Dee leaning over the side of the deck. 

  
  


Found ya’. 

  
  


“How’d you get up there?” Magolor spoke, cupping his hands around his covered mouth and making his voice hopefully loud enough to be heard well.

  
  


“Spear,” He replied, as if it were a clear answer. 

  
  


Ah, yes, of course. Spear. Why hadn’t he thought of that obvious, logical explanation? 

  
  


Magolor decided not to ask for clarification. 

  
  


He used his magic to float up the side of the ship to join the runaway. With help from Bandana Dee, he pulled himself up over the edge. He sat himself down on the ledge of the Lor, legs dangling down toward the far-away grass. 

  
  


He watched Bandana Dee move to sit beside him from his peripheral vision. 

  
  


The two sat in silence for a while, watching the waterfalls in the distance.

  
  


“What happened?” Magolor kept his voice purposefully gentle. He’d been told before that he always sounded too professional or interrogating when he attempted to be helpful.

  
  


It took Bandana Dee some time to reply. 

  
  


“We were, uh, in a pretty tough fight. We were attacking from all sides and retreating when Meta Knight told us to— since he had the best view of the scene. I guess I— I overestimated how much damage I’d be able to do.” He stared down at the ground, fists clenched tight enough for his knuckles to go white.

  
Magolor carefully moved his hand to rub Bandana Dee’s back in a slightly nervous attempt at consolation.

  
  


“I didn’t back up when I was supposed to, since I thought I could prevent the attack altogether by just—- just taking it out quicker. It almost slammed me into the far wall, but the King got in the way before it could happen.”

  
  


His voice was quiet and cold. It was strange to hear. He looked so angry at himself. 

  
  


Magolor didn’t have a clue what to say.

  
  


Bandana Dee sighed and put his face in his hands. “I’m so stupid,” He said, his voice reduced to a weak whisper.

  
  


He lifted his head slightly as he saw Magolor stand without a word. Dee’s eyes began to water. “Where…?” He didn’t finish his sentence before Magolor had walked off, leaving him alone on the edge of the deck. 

  
  


His stare lingered blankly in the direction Magolor had disappeared to for a few minutes.

  
  


Bandana Dee felt too ashamed to go back inside and see the faces of his friends. He knew they wouldn’t be mean to him or anything, and it was out of their character to be angry at him for something like what happened today, but he couldn’t convince himself that they weren’t disappointed in him. 

  
  


The possibility of Kirby being upset with him made him feel sick. 

  
  


Was Magolor disappointed in his weakness, too?

  
  


...

  
  


He tried. 

  
  


He always tried, he tried so hard. To be strong, to be heroic, to be brave. Only rarely did he actually feel like any of those things. 

  
  


Bandana Dee felt like an out-of-place tag-along standing beside the likes of Kirby, Meta Knight, and the King.

  
  


All he wanted was to prove his strength, his capability. If not to others, then… to himself. He was the hardest critic to convince.

  
  


He began to shiver, crossing his arms as if to hug himself and preserve heat. The last thing he wanted was to get sick again, but Nova, he was stubborn. So, on the deck he stayed. His watery eyes started blurring his vision as he kept his eyes trained on some far-off star. 

  
  


Snapping him out of his depressive stupor was the feeling of something— someone—- touching his shoulder. 

  
  


A glance to the side revealed that Magolor returned to his spot beside Bandana Dee, this time with a thick blanket for the two of them to share, one side draped over Dee’s shoulder before he sat down.

  
  


Bandana Dee felt tears pool in his eyes, threatening to spill over. He bit his lip to try and drive it back.

  
  


“I wasn’t sure you’d come back,” He muttered, staring down at his hands.

  
  


“Sorry, I wasn’t sure what to say. I thought I’d help in another way.”

  
  


“No, no, don’t apologize,” He sniffled, pressing his hands up to his eyes to prevent tears. “This is great.” The blanket was helping. It felt like a wholly encompassing, warm hug. He pulled his side of the blanket closer to his chest. It smelled like Magolor, like books and stardust.

  
  


Being with Magolor felt like stepping out of the world— stepping away to a place of calm and magic. No one to impress, no one to disappoint.

  
  


Just this, almost irritatingly, alluring alien.

  
  


“I’m glad I could help,” Magolor replied, softly. His tall ears twitched under his hood. “I’m just not too good with, er… comforting words.”

  
  


“That’s surprising to hear from someone who talks so much.”

  
  


“Hey!” Magolor gasped, feigning an overly-offended look. 

  
  


Bandana Dee snorted and leaned forward in soft, unrestrained laughter. The tear droplets he’d been restraining broke free and dripped down his face as tears of happiness. He sniffled and wiped his face with the palms of his hands. “S— Sorry,” he laughed, regaining composure. “I needed that. You should’ve seen the look on your face, Magolor.”

  
  


The risibility of Bandana Dee always made Magolor smile. His laughter was so warm and relaxing to hear, like a reminder that things were going to be okay.

  
  


Feeling spontaneous, Magolor laced his hand together with Bandana Dee’s. 

  
  


The act made Bandana Dee’s laughter die down, but it was immediately replaced with an equally pleasant smile, though he continued facing forward toward the distant lake.

  
  


“Do you miss home?”

  
  


“Hm?” Magolor asked, processing the question a little late. “Well, yeah. It isn’t as great as it used to be, but it’s still home. I’ll take you to see it sometime.”

  
  


_ Take you, he said. You as in everyone, or you as in, the singular— _ He mentally batted away the onslaught of rapid thoughts that always seemed to plague him at the worst of times. Bandana Dee rested his head on Magolor’s shoulder. “I’d like that. I’m sure it’s very nice on Halcandra.”

  
  


“It can be,” He squeezed his hand gently. “I’ve got a couple reasons not to mind sticking around here for as long as it takes to fix the ship, though.”

  
  


A quietness settled between the two.

  
  


“I guess I’ll just have to give you a few more reasons to stick around longer than that.”

  
  


The butterflies in Magolor’s stomach almost made him forget the reality of his situation. He shook it off for now.

  
  


For now, nothing else existed here.

  
  


He could allow himself a moment to breathe, a moment to live.

  
  


Magolor felt tears stinging at the corners of his eyes. He brought Bandana Dee’s hand up to the fabric covering his mouth to press the ghost of a kiss against his healed knuckles.

  
  


“I look forward to it.”


End file.
